20 phrases you’ll only hear in Glasgow

Pick apart the words and sayings common only to Glasgow and the west coast, and you’ll find a mixture of good old-fashioned Scots phrasing, pop culture references and terms of endearment that can double up as insults, depending on who you’re talking to.

Ginger

A fizzy drink – sometimes Scotland’s favourite, Irn Bru, but the term can be used for any fizzy juice you fancy. For that reason, it’s best to ask for clarity when someone requests ‘a bottle o’ ginger’.

Bolt ya rocket

Translated simply, this phrase means ‘go away’ – but with an added insult at the end. ‘Rocket’ is essentially an extremely satisfying way to dub someone a complete idiot.

How?

In Glasgow, ‘how?’ is just as likely to mean ‘why?’

If you’re telling a Glaswegian not to do something and they ask ‘How?’, they’re not looking for instructions – they mean ‘Why?’

Piece

It’s an oldie, but a goodie. Forget your sandwich – that’s a posh lunch here. That magical meal of two slices of bread and filling is known as a piece around these parts.

Away an’ bile yer heid

If someone directs this phrase at you, they’re telling you where to go. You’ve probably been talking nonsense – so much nonsense, in fact, that you’ve to boil your own head in shame for being so ridiculous.

Glaikit

The single best word to describe someone with a silly look on their face, this word translates as stupid, careless, gormless – daft, in a word.

Buttoned up the back

Is someone trying to take you for a fool or make a mug of you? Then this is the phrase you’ve been searching for.

Used regularly by many a Glasgow parent, it’s usually a question, as in ‘D’ye think ahm buttoned up the back?’ implemented after they’ve been told a bold faced lie.

The answer (in case you’re wondering) is always no, they’re not.

Giein’ it laldy

Should you rock up to a club after a wee swally and hit the dancefloor, there’s only one thing for it – and that’s giein’ it laldy.

It means really going for whatever task is in hand and regretting nothing afterwards.

Taps aff

Remember when it was pure baltic? Well now the solitary day of the year when the sun shines on Glasgow has arrived, and young men across the city are taking their tops off to make the most of it.

Put that thermometer away – the only temperature gauge anyone in the city needs is a peek out the window to see if taps are oan or aff.

Did ye, aye?

Thank Glasgow comedian Kevin Bridges for popularising this gem of a put down.

Whether you’re faced with someone spinning tall tales about what they got up to on their holidays, or a co-worker going on about yet another wild weekend, nothing will put them in their place quite like a sarcastic ‘Did ye, aye?’

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